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Cardinal Kregory Hestor
“It is a fool who tells a man how to run his own house; especially when he is only a guest and there under the sufferance of much wiser men.” –Cardinal Kregory Hestor, Drusian Arch-Diocese Titles: Blessed of the Saint, the Black Cardinal Seat of Power: Thical Arch-Diocese: Drusus Marches Just as Scintilla and Golgenna Reach are the administrative center of the Ministorum in the Calixian Sector, so the Drusus Marches are its spiritual center---or at least so Cardinal Kregory Hestor continually likes to remind the other members of the Sector Synod. Well into his second century, Kregory is a massive, corpulent man, made rich by the coin of pilgrims and full of self-importance. As the Cardinal of the Drusian Diocese, his domain includes the highest proportion of shrine worlds of any within the sector, including the most sacred worlds of Maccabeus Quintus and Sentinel, both blessed by the presence of the Saint. Thus, Kregory sees himself as at very least the equal of Arch-Cardinal Ignato, if not his better. In fact Kregory believes that the center of all Ministorum activity and power should reside in the Drusus Marches and not the Golgenna Reach. He sees Scintilla as a corrupt center from which Sector Lord Marius Hax and the noble families manipulate the Calixian people, and therefore as a world unsuited to the purity of purpose and calling the church represents. He would rather increase the distance between the two so that the Ecclesiarchy can shake off the shackles of Administratum meddling. To this end, Kregory has spent decades undermining Ignato, subverting his allies and slowly siphoning off Ministorum resources and servants to increase the power of his own diocese. Principle among his weapons has been the world of Maccabeus Quintus and its cult. Playing a deadly game of brinkmanship with Ignato, he has carefully fanned the flames of discord on Maccabeus to keep things tense between the cult and the Tarsine Synod, while being sure not to spark a war which would wreck his own power base. Because of this Ignato has been loath to take more direct action against Kregory, and in the interests of the stability of the region and the Sector Synod has allowed him minor victories on more than one occasion. However, with each victory Kregory has been growing bolder and more vocal in his demands for greater independence from the control of the Tarsine Synod, a path which will no doubt lead to confrontation between the cardinals sooner rather than later. Kregory is not without his own weaknesses however and the situation on Protasia is a constant embarrassment to the cardinal. Ignato takes great pleasure in pointing this out whenever the Synod convenes, especially Kregory’s ineffectiveness in bringing the light of the Emperor to that world. Of course, Protasia is also the concern of the Sector Lord and the greater Calixian Imperial authority, and so Kregory often blames any lack of progress on the bungling of the Administratum, limited Imperial Guard deployments, or some such other excuse. Kregory is aware, however, that the longer the conflict goes on, the more strain it puts on his own reputation as a paragon of the Ministorum and the faith his allies have in him to eventually win the support of the Sector Synod to usurp Ignato’s power.